Putting a stamp on valet parking

Lombard looks at setting rules outside eateries

March 15, 2002|By William Grady, Tribune staff reporter.

Valet parking might seem to be an anomaly at suburban restaurants, which typically are surrounded by asphalt.

But the proliferation of dining destinations has made valet parking a popular amenity in some suburbs--particularly on weekends in heavy traffic areas, such as the restaurant row that has emerged along Butterfield Road in Lombard.

Hoping to prevent complaints, Lombard officials are drafting an ordinance to regulate valet parking. It's become a concern, according to a memo by Margaret Gibbs, a Lombard planner, because of such high-profile developments as Fountain Square.

A mixed-use project at Butterfield and Meyers Roads in Lombard, Fountain Square has attracted three popular restaurants with 500 parking spaces that often are filled on Friday and Saturday nights.

For some restaurants, valet parking is a trendy service the clientele has come to expect. For others, the service compensates for a shortage of spaces.

"Our parking is limited," said Dan Mortell, general manager of Magnum's Prime Steakhouse, 777 E. Butterfield. The restaurant offers free valet parking on most nights of the week.

"We'd rather have people pull up and come right into the restaurant instead of hunting for a parking space," Mortell said. "It works for us. If we had a huge parking lot, there would be no reason for it."

The aim of Lombard's ordinance is to identify the businesses that offer valet parking and set guidelines. It would require businesses to file a plan that would spell out loading zones, traffic patterns and where valet services would park. The regulations also would prohibit valet services from using fire lanes.

The ordinance is expected to be considered next month by the Village Board.

Without regulations, it would be difficult for Lombard to monitor valet parking, said William Heniff, senior planner for the village.

"It's an issue because we have some highly desirable restaurants that do generate traffic, and that's a good thing," Heniff said. "But there is nothing in our code right now that speaks to valet parking."

Lombard would join a handful of Chicago suburbs, including Naperville and Schaumburg, with valet regulations. Several restaurants in Oak Brook also offer valet parking, but village officials there say they haven't seen a need for regulations.

Crackdowns by Chicago police in January and February resulted in more than 200 citations to downtown valet-parking services for double-parking cars, commandeering parking meter spaces and failing to give proper receipts.

The issues in the suburbs tend to be a bit different. Suburban officials typically want a say in whether the spaces used by valet services are near the front of restaurants, where staff can keep watch on cars and better control traffic, or whether those spaces should be reserved for customers who don't want to pay for valet parking.

Lombard's proposed valet-parking ordinance also would amend the village's sign regulations. Those changes are expected to be heard Monday by the Plan Commission, which needs to approve them before the ordinance goes to the Village Board, Heniff said.